Hellenistics Review

Hellenistics Review

Well it's March and I still have bare metal in the reserve box (what a surprise!).  On the plus side there has been some recent progress:

4 - pestiferous pachyderms screened by 7 - Agranian (or Rhodian) slingers

16 - Thracian peltasts plus 11 - rhomphaia-armed kinfolk

(couldn't decide what to put on their shields)

So now I have almost filled one tin box and have all the light cavalry in another.  Here's the current (fully-painted) list:

         4 - Elephants                                 7 (x2) - Scythian horse archers

10 (x3) - Reg Kn(F)                               7 (x2) - Thracian light horse (jav/sh)

  4 (x3) - Reg Kn(F) Generals                 5 (x2) - Thracian horse archers

  4 (x3) - Thracian Cavalry                      5 (x2) - Bactrian light horse (jav/bow)

  3 (x3) - Greek Cavalry                          5 (x2) - Greek light horse (jav only)

                                                               5 (x2) - Armenian horse archers

22 (x4) - Reg peltasts                              

  6 (x4) - Cretan Reg Bw(I)                     25 (x2) - Slingers Ps(O)

30 (x4) - Pikemen                                   24 (x2) - Javelinmen Ps(O or S)

  8 (x3) - Lykian peltasts                          17 (x2) - Bow Ps(O)

11 (x3) - Thracian Irr Ax(S)

16 (x3) - Thracian Irr Ax(O)

Also moved some figures to the 'Lydian' box:

4 (x4) - Hoplites                                       5 (x2) - light horse (jav/sh)

6 (x3) - Reg Kn(F)                                   3 (x4) - Reg peltasts

2 (x3) - Irr Ax(O)                                     1 (x2) - Ps(O) jav/sh

Need a break from this era so will finish the hoplites on my board (but not their shields) then move back to the, much neglected, Zulus.  

Hellenistic Progress

A bit more happening on this front.  I have managed to finish off:

13 x Ps(O) Slingers (Tin Soldier)
6 x Bw(I) Cretans (Minifigs)
3 x Ps(O) Cretans (mixed)
and...........

                                                       3 x Cv(O) Greek horse  (Asgard) 

More Plastics

Purchased two more sets from the Halifax shop:

HaT 8249 - El Cid Moorish Command - for my Renaissance project
Caesar 011 - Assyrian Chariot

Too late to pick up the British Colonial Command figures I wanted....Rats!!!

A Curate's Egg

A Curate's Egg

I recently picked up 10 boxes of HaT figures at £2.50 each.  Not from Ebay or similar but the result of the closure of the Wakefield Model Shop.  They had been on Dewsbury Road since 1968 - friendly and knowledgeable staff - a wide range of modelling materials & kits.

Over the past decade similar shops in Doncaster, Barnsley, Pontefract & Castleford have all closed down.  Last year the Halifax shop moved to Union Street - it only holds about one-third of its previous stocks.  Looks like I will have to check out all the possibles in Leeds and Sheffield!

Although tempted to grab all the remaining plastic soldiers I restrained myself.  There were no 'colonial' figures but some 'biblicals':

HaT    8092     Assyrian Infantry (x2)
HaT    8121     Assyrian Allied Infantry
HaT    8125     Assyrian Cavalry (x2)
HaT    8128     Assyrian Army (x3)
HaT    8132     Sumerian Infantry (x2)

8 boxes of Assyrians is a pretty good basis for an army - but it's a bit short on the chariot arm.
2 boxes of Sumerians is a bit of nothing really (so these are still in the box and on the sprues).

Everybody likes a bargain but I would rather pay full price on all these sets if it brought back a shop that I have spent many a happy half-hour in.

Disappointing Dr Who

Disappointing Dr Who

Saw the advert for issue 304(?) of Dr Who Magazine - Silurians & Weeping Angels.  I got my skates on and headed to the newsagents.

What I saw was an issue with 20 figures on it (I think) but they were half Silurians (in one standard position) and half Weeping Angels (with arms out thrust).  Did I really want so many identical figures?  My wallet moths were safe this time.

What a pity DWM cannot be more imaginative!

Progress Report

Progress Report

Just finished some light horse for my "Hellenistic" project.

These are Armenian horse-archers (Minifigs I think) - from many decades past.  

Thracian horse-archers from Tin Soldier (very chunky).

In mid-2012 I had a leak in the house roof so needed to move some of my figures about.  Two boxes in particular came to my attention - "Hellenistic" & "Greeks".  A complete mess of partly-painted and unpainted figures.  Since then whatever is on my current painting table is accompanied by a couple of units from these boxes.  By such a method I have managed to bring up to standard the following:

5 x 2 Thracian Lh(F) - Tin Soldier                             4 x 4 Lydian Hoplites - ?

5 x 2 Greek Lh(O) - Asgard                                     2 x 4 Spartan Hoplites - Asgard

5 x 2 Bactrian Lh(O) - Tin Soldier                            15 x 4 Reg Peltasts Ax(O) - various

7 x 2 Thracian Lh(O) - Tin Soldier                           13 x 2 Javelinmen Ps(O) - various

5 x 2 Dahae Lh(F) - Minifigs                                    8 x 3 Lykian Peltasts - Minifigs

6 x 3 Lydian Kn(F) - ?                                            28 x 4 Pikes Pk(O) - various

5 x 2 Lydian Lh(O) - ?                                            1 Bolt-shooter - ?

4 x 3 Thracian Cv(O) - Tin Soldier

10 x 3 Kn(F) - Tin Soldier

3 x 3 Kn(F) Generals

Not a bad tally but there is still plenty to go.  Currently sharing my board (with the Zulus) are:

14 x 2 Greek archers Ps(O) - Tin Soldier

10 x 4 Regular peltasts - Ax(O) - various

That just leaves a large pile of bare metal........Ho Hum!

Washing the Spears

Washing the Spears

I have played a number of solo games with these rules and liked them .  However ....being a typical wargamer I feel the need to tinker.

The number of optional rules (towards the back) require you to build all sorts of unique units that do almost nothing.  Being stingy by nature I thought that there must be another (better?) way.  So here's my first attempts at 'chance' cards:

I throw 1d6 at the start of each turn and draw a card if a 5 or 6 is thrown.  The card is passed to the appropriate side (red dot for Imperials, black for Zulus) or is diced for with 1d6 (1-3 to Imperials, 4-6 to Zulus).  A player may use the card during his/her turn.  No player can hold more than 5 cards in his/her hand.

So far this approach has added a little 'spice' without skewing the game.  After a few more trials I will, no doubt, create proper cards.   If any of my readers have any suggestions then please drop me a comment.

Just a Quick Note

Just A Quick Note

Real Life has got in the way of my wargaming over the last month.  Too much hassle from some local vermin.

On a positive note I have managed to sort through a load of figures and am now painting Zulus at an industrial rate.

Anyway .... I'm not too curmudgeonly to wish you all ...... a Happy New Year (2013).